I Hear Them Too
by evelinaonline
Summary: It's only when the entire living room gets crowded with ghosts and Ben starts begging the others to help their brother Klaus calm down that Allison realises how lucky she is to be able to touch her family.


**Based on a tumblr prompt: "maybe one about ghosts affecting klaus' hearing? or you're own take of that 'klaus accidentally makes the ghosts visible to his sibling' trope? either one works!"**

**This is... Quite rushed, but I really wanted to write something from Allison's point of view, and of course there's Ben and Klaus because I am trash and I love them, oops. Hope you like it!**

**Note: Please note that this contains some (kinda?) graphic descriptions of gore!**

* * *

Stopping the apocalypse was supposed to make things better.

And well, it did. At first.

Getting better was a slow process. Allison knew that well from therapy. Still, simply knowing that didn't make it any easier for the siblings to click together again, because as it turns out, they never had.

They started out with family meetings once a week, every Sunday morning. The meetings were used to address problems, make plans for the week, or simply spend time together. No matter the case, they seemed to work.

Today was their fourth official family meeting.

"So I was thinking," Luther said, standing up so everyone could see him. "We should go through Dad's stuff."

"Why, so we can find another mission to work on?" Diego said, not even flinching.

"Diego." Allison bumped his leg with hers. "What did we say about listening?"

Diego sighed and leaned against the back of the couch. At least he was paying attention.

Luther nodded, and continued. "I was thinking we could clean up a bit. Throw out the stuff we don't need."

"Maybe find another hidden room or something, right?" Everyone looked at Vanya with a confused expression. "It was a joke," she said. "I agree with Luther."

"Then the group activity of the week is settled." Five leaned forward a bit, his hands clasped together. "Now if you'll excuse me—"

"Yeah, as if you have anything better to do," Diego said. Five gave him the most sarcastic grin Allison had ever seen in her life.

"So is everyone on board?" Luther asked, glancing around the room. "What about you and Ben, Klaus?"

Everyone's gazes fell upon Klaus, who was sitting on the floor next to the fireplace with his legs crossed. He stared right ahead, and it would seem as if his eyes were fixed on something, but his gaze was blank. Empty.

"Klaus." Luther snapped his fingers in front of his face. "Hey, Klaus!"

Klaus flinched, squinting as he looked up at Luther. As if there was something blocking Luther from view. "Yes?"

"Did you even hear anything from the meeting?" was Luther's response, and it took every last inch of Allison's willpower not to slap him.

"I—" Klaus swallowed. "I need to be somewhere now, I—" He placed his hand on the floor, as if trying to get up, but he wouldn't move. "I gotta go, you know? Gotta run some errands, and—"

"Jesus, Klaus," Luther mumbled. "I thought you said you were clean."

"I'm not _mean," _Klaus responded. Well that was certainly not what Luther had told him. "Just a bit tired, so—"

With a sigh, Diego stopped playing with his knife and stood up, kneeling down next to Klaus. "Hey. You feeling alright, buddy?"

"Shut up…" he mumbled.

Diego turned around to give Allison a look, and she shrugged. She joined Diego on the floor too. "Klaus?"

"Just shut up, please…"

Sooner or later, the whole family had gathered around Klaus, offering him a hand. Allison really didn't want to believe Klaus was high, but the way he was acting suggested otherwise.

"We're just trying to help, okay?" Allison mumbled. "There's no need to be—"

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, _SHUT UP!"_

The room flashed in blue before Allison had time to react. It was like a power field had started from Klaus, spreading all over the living room as soon as his hands started glowing.

And then there were voices.

Voices that Allison couldn't recognize. Then she blinked again, and realised they belonged to the countless of ghosts that Klaus had summoned. Children, men, women, people of all races, but they all had one thing in common and it was that they were dead.

They had limbs, gun wounds, their guts spilling all over the floor, walking lifelessly and circling around Klaus, _calling his name over and over again—_

"What the hell are you doing?"

And then there was Ben.

He was knelt next to Klaus, far but close enough, and was staring at them with an accusatory look and it _hurt._ It hurt to see Ben this mad at them, even though Allison had no idea how any of this was their fault.

"Well, he wasn't listening, and—"

"I'm not talking about the stupid family meeting, Luther!" Ben said as quietly as he could, but loud enough for them to hear.

Diego—who looked like he was going to throw up any second—tilted his head. "Then what are—"

"Give him some space!" Ben yelled.

They all took a few steps back, and it was then that Allison realised how crowded the space around Klaus was. They weren't helping by sitting next to him; they were suffocating him.

"Ben…" Klaus mumbled. "Ben, where is Ben, _WHERE IS HE?"_

He couldn't see him.

Klaus couldn't see anyone. They had all blended in with the other ghosts.

"Vanya," Ben said, the panic in his voice becoming more and more visible. "I need you to come here and hold his hand."

Somehow that sentence was scarier than all the ghosts in the room combined.

Ben clearly knew how to help Klaus, but he _couldn't._ He had to call someone else to do it for him. Thirteen years of living with Klaus, and not once had he been able to touch him and hold him close. Ben had been—and still was—dead.

Allison found herself holding onto Luther and Diego's hands, and Five stood close to them as well. They all knew.

It took a moment, but the ghosts started fading out, and Allison couldn't help but wonder if they were still visible for Klaus.

Ben didn't fade.

"Breathe, okay?" Ben was mumbling, and although Allison could only see his back, she knew he had been crying. "It's me. It's me and Vanya, okay? It's just us."

Klaus nodded, closing his eyes and struggling to take in a few deep breaths.

"That's it," Vanya said, stroking his hair. "You're doing great."

A few more painful minutes passed, during which Five had moved closer to Allison, his back against her body. She knew he was going to deny it later, but she didn't care.

"Ben?" Klaus mumbled, then looked down at his hands. "Vanya?"

"Hey," Vanya said. Allison could hear the smile in her voice. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Klaus gave Vanya's hand a final pat, and then tried to stand up again, this time managing it. He leaned against the arm of the chair. "Fuck."

"You gave us a scare there," Diego spoke up, and it was then that they all started to pull away from each other.

"Yeah," Klaus chuckled, putting a hand on his head. "Christ, everything hurts."

"Worse than time travel?" Five offered, and Klaus chuckled again.

Luther cleared his throat, hesitantly looking at Klaus. "Klaus, I, uh… I'm… You know."

Klaus waved his hand in the air. "It wasn't your fault."

"I'm sorry too," Allison said. "I had no idea you felt so… Enclosed. If Ben here hadn't told us about it, who knows what might have happened."

Ben stared in awe for a second. "You can still see me?"

They all nodded slowly, some smiles being shared. Klaus was still working on how to manifest Ben for long periods of time, so they didn't get to see him often, but his presence was slowly becoming more and more frequent.

Allison saw Ben pull Klaus into the biggest hug she had ever seen.

Klaus hugged back almost immediately, and they both sank into each other's arms. It was literally not possible for them to come any closer than this.

She only stopped looking at them when Diego elbowed her side, pointing at Five with his gaze. He'd scooted closer to Vanya, hesitantly pulling her into a side hug. Allison's heart melted right there and then.

It was in moments like these that she remembered how lucky she was to be able to hug her family. She couldn't help but wrap her arms around her remaining two brothers. She couldn't fully wrap her arm around Luther's back, but the three of them were still pretty close, Luther's arm reaching as far as Diego's side.

It was the most heartwarming moment of their family meetings so far.

"Klaus, what are you—_AGH!"_

Klaus had freefallen on the side of armchair, bringing Ben down with him. They'd ended up on top of each other, Klaus' back on one of the chair's arms, and their legs clumsily hanging from the other.

All of them broke into laughter as Ben snuggled even closer to Klaus.

Allison really loved her family sometimes.

* * *

**We stan the Hargreeves siblings being happy.**

**If you liked this, you can find me on tumblr at evelinaonline! I take drabble requests (although they take a bit long 'cause they usually turn into one-shots, oops.)**


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